Re: I was on Mastodon as it ahppened
"We hired a policeman and it's going really great" wasn't the best announcement they could have made.
I'm a Brit so 'ex-cop and surveillance' instantly brought to mind hiding cameras in plant pots to nab the bad guys. And "hurrah for that; someone's got to do it", and I wasn't much fussed.
But that's a rose-tinted view. He may well be a Good Cop, but there are plenty who aren't, as many have found out, especially certain members of Britain's communities, and those who have ended up on mortuary slabs for no good reason.
And it's even worse in America, so its not surprising some were triggered by the announcement. In truth I can't blame them, even though they are perceiving things from a different perspective than I and other Brits would.
From an American perspective it seems it would be easy to read it as "We have employed a cop who uses our kit to spy on people. Fuck yeah".
The real failing is in how the outraged were responded to. This is probably going to become a text book case of how not to respond to people you have inadvertently triggered. It's not the first time Raspberry Pi has responded in such a manner - Element 14's forum in the early days had a not insignificant number of members who had been banned from the Pi forum because their attitudes weren't appreciated - but this may be the most consequential.
I imagine Liz Upton, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Raspberry Pi Limited - "if you see our company producing anything with words, pictures or video in it, my sticky fingers have had some involvement." - is rather busy this morning dealing with what's happening, the shit storm that's been provoked.